For the ip hunting thingy, you just have to try and then remember which ip range works good for your area. You can tell when the authenticating msg is slow means the connection is bad. It has to be instant!! lol, if not instant, reconnect till get a diff ip range.

This was my schedule when i used to play wow:
9am-6pm college/work
8pm-12pm wow, then sleep lol.
Of course if it's maintainance day it's not like that